Lately I have been neglecting my straight razors, and using the brass General instead. It's an excellent razor, and gives splendid results with little effort.

The thing is that I know I can make that effort, and I have those skills and I do enjoy using them. So I pulled out the two Hart 7/8 razors I have and honed them according to the best practices I have documented in this forum. I'm happy to report that I still had to scrape my lower jaw off the floor when I felt how closely they could shave. Much closer than the General with a Feather Professional blade, even if requiring goodness knows how much practice to achieve it. OK, the shave is excellent. I could wish that the Hart razors that call themselves 7/8 actually measure that way with a ruler, but they don't - they are 7/8 in the way that Pi nearly became exactly three in Indiana in 1897, meaning not even close. I would think that an 8/8 razor with the same steel and the same half-hollow grind would be something worth having.

drmoss_ca wrote:Lately I have been neglecting my straight razors, and using the brass General instead. It's an excellent razor, and gives splendid results with little effort.

The thing is that I know I can make that effort, and I have those skills and I do enjoy using them. So I pulled out the two Hart 7/8 razors I have and honed them according to the best practices I have documented in this forum. I'm happy to report that I still had to scrape my lower jaw off the floor when I felt how closely they could shave. Much closer than the General with a Feather Professional blade, even if requiring goodness knows how much practice to achieve it. OK, the shave is excellent. I could wish that the Hart razors that call themselves 7/8 actually measure that way with a ruler, but they don't - they are 7/8 in the way that Pi nearly became exactly three in Indiana in 1897, meaning not even close. I would think that an 8/8 razor with the same steel and the same half-hollow grind would be something worth having.

C.

It seems to me that one would potentially have complete control with an open razor. I have never felt like I quite had that with a safety razor.

(And clearly that result would depend on advanced skill in the handling and maintenance of such a razor.)

I finally managed to raise Tim, and a giant ¼ hollow in 01 steel will be made. I've suggested 8/8 or 17/16, and I'm hoping he will treat it to a hardness of 63.

There's a lot to be said for not going for harder steels, principally ease of honing, which might have to be done a little more often than with a harder steel, but it's trivially easy to get tool steel to an exquisite edge, and combined with a thicker grind a close, comfortable, silent shave is routinely attained.

I finally managed to raise Tim, and a giant ¼ hollow in 01 steel will be made. I've suggested 8/8 or 17/16, and I'm hoping he will treat it to a hardness of 63.

There's a lot to be said for not going for harder steels, principally ease of honing, which might have to be done a little more often than with a harder steel, but it's trivially easy to get tool steel to an exquisite edge, and combined with a thicker grind a close, comfortable, silent shave is routinely attained.

C.

I'm beginning to feel nervous about this order. It took me many attempts over two years to get a reply to my e-mails. I started in November 2015, but had no reply until December 2016. Naturally I replied straight away, but had no further reply until October 2017. Following that, in November 2017 I was told he would 'start on it in a couple of weeks'. In early January I was told he would start 'next week'. And in early March it was 'I'm just getting the forge going'. Two weeks ago I enquired as to progress, but I have had no reply. Tim has been a great guy, a skilled razor maker and an expert metallurgist. Reading between all sorts of lines, I have seen him be disappointed/get shafted by Classic Shaving and be abused by the psychopath in charge of the money-making shaving forum when he declined to be extorted. I don't know if I shall ever see this razor while my hematologist will still let me near sharp objects (my platelets are still below the normal range and they will go lower with the next chemo). It's sad. He makes great razors, and my estate will have around a dozen of them to sell. Oh, well.

Many years ago I saved myself many days of frustration and disappointment when I came to understand a universal trait we all share.

When someone wants to do something, they will always find a way to do it. When someone does not want to do something, they will always find any number of ways to avoid doing it.

You may say, "I always keep my word", or "I do a lot of things I don't want to do". This is clearly stated in the above sentence. The results speak the truth. If one does a lot of things they verbally claim they do not want to do, it's ultimately because on the higher level, we only want to do what we actually do. I want to be considered responsible or truthful, or because I promised or am otherwise bound to do the thing. Therefore I want to do it. For whatever personal reason, Tim is faced with circumstances that are requiring him to do those things he wants to do under the circumstances. Therefore, he simply does not want to stop doing whatever it is, so he can make a razor. Whatever is going on in his life, I wish him all the best. He was kind enough to help me understand something regarding another knife (razor?)-maker, and I know him to be sincere about his work.

There is a legal precept that goes something like:"If a person does something, it proves it was that person's intent to do what they did."

I did get an e-mail from Tim offering a damascus blade instead of the tool steel I had requested. Thing is, I have eight Zowada damascus blades and there's little point in adding a ninth. So I stuck to my guns and replied that the tool steel (O1) is what I want, and repeated the offer of an 'out' in that if he would prefer not to work with such lowly material I will understand. No reply since, so I must be disappointing him dreadfully.

Three years later and the blade is promised to be forged tomorrow. It will be, essentially, a giant Hart razor, and one made by an master rather than a journeyman. Just as well the leukemia didn't come back just yet, or this would have been a disaster!